Osun Defender - May 22nd, 2014 Edition by OsunDefender

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www.osundefender.org THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014 For an administration that has long been acknowledged as clear leader in innovative ideas in governance, it comes as no surprise that the Rauf Aregbesola administration is again blazing the trail in the adoption of information technology

PEOPLE FIRST

Front Page Comment Smart card for Osun workers: Another first to address two critical challenges in the delivery of the public good: the menace of ghost

workers on the payroll; and the imperative of a credible data base of its workforce. For the purposedriven,

developmentminded administration in the state, the recent introduction of smart identity cards and biometric automation system among the state’s work-force across the board is certainly no accident. Continue on pg5

VOL. 9. NO.061

N 50

Who Killed Chief Bola Ige, formerAttorneyGeneral and Minister of Justice?

IGE

Fake Voters’ Cards Flood Osun, PDP Fingered - See Story On Page 2

•The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola(5th left); Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Lesley Draice (6th right); representative of Kano State governor, State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Tajudeen Gambo(5th right); World Bank representative, Professor Don Bundy (4th right); Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Macjohn Nwaobiala (3rd right) and other dignitaries at the Technical Workshop on Home-Grown School Feeding Programme at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, last Monday. Photo: STATE OF OSUN GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

Authenticate Your Claims - APC Tells Omisore

- See Story On Page 3

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OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Fake Voters’ Cards Flood Osun, PDP Fingered I By ISMAEEL UTHMAN

NTELLIGENCE report gathered by OSUN DEFENDER has indicated that there are hundreds of thousands of fake voters’ cards in circulation in the State of Osun, barely two months to the governorship election. The fake voters’ cards, whose sons, daughters and according to sources, were relatives were unable to allegedly being circulated register for the last voters’ by some chieftains of the registration exercise. The source said: “I saw Peoples Democratic Party the fake voters’ cards in Ila (PDP). Some of the voters’ cards on Sunday. I was shocked were reportedly distributed when I saw it. They look to some people, particularly exactly like the Permanent the underage, in Ila- Voters’ Cards. But they are Orangun on Sunday by the lighter in weight with faded colour and blurred PDP agents. An impeccable source, graphics. “The fake cards were who prayed not to be named, said the fake voters’ both in laminated paper and cards looked like a cloned plastic cards like the PVC. copy of the Permanent The cards were being distributed by PDP Voters’ Cards. According to the source, chieftains in Ila-Orangun. It who claimed to have seen was a serious situation. “Without mincing the fake cards, they were being given to PDP elders, words, the circulation of the

fake voters’ cards is definitely meant to rig the forthcoming August 9, 2014 governorship election in the state.” It would be recalled that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, had, few weeks ago, alleged the PDP of planning to compromise the data base of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a bid to clone authentic voters’ cards. It would be recalled that civil societies in the state had called on INEC to deploy card-reading machines during the poll in order to have a fair and credible poll in the state, saying the decision by the commission not to use the machine is not comprehensible.

Reports of purchase of voters’ cards by some politicians was the first major issue in the state before INEC eventually announced that it has detected multiple registration in the recent voters’ registration exercise it conducted. Reacting to the issue, Comrade Abiodun Agboola, the Coordinator of Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC), disclosed that if the elections in Osun and Ekiti states have any flaw, it is as a result of the refusal of INEC to deploy card readers. He said the commission in its own assessment had confirmed that there are multiple registrations and people have been raising alarm on the fact that their

permanent voters’ cards are missing, then what stops the commission from wanting to detect the authenticity of cards during the polls. He warned that if INEC creates a lacuna for manipulation, politicians would go to any length at ensuring that they discredit the electoral process and the bulk of the blame would be on the commission. According to him, the civil societies would not stop calling on the commission to deploy cardreading machines during the polls in Ekiti and Osun to give the electorate the full right of determining who they want to vote for in the coming elections in the states. Agboola reiterated the

OCSC’s commitment to embark on a peaceful protest to INEC with a view to making the position of the organisation clear on the use of card-reading machines during the poll, saying it would be a good avenue to testrun the device ahead of the 2015 general elections in the country. Also, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), State of Osun chapter, has also joined the call for the use of the VCR for the governorship election. According to IPAC, the non-use of the VCR, has said by INEC, would aid election malpractices and sabotage all efforts to have free, fair and credible governorship election in the state.

Man Dies In Grave Trying To Exhume Body By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

N unidentified man, suspected to be a ritualist, has been mysteriously killed while trying to exhume a buried corpse. According to reports possibly compelled other gathered on the strange ritualists to run away from the incident, which took place in scene, so that they may not Ilobu community, located in the be affected by the mysterious Irepodum Local Govenrment thing that killed their Council Area of the State of colleague,” the source said. Osun, the supposed ritualist Speaking on how the was found dead, half-buried in residents of Ilobu got to know a grave from which he had tried about the incident, the source to cut off the head of an aged explained that the half-buried woman, who had been buried body of the suspected ritualist there. was discovered by a hawker A source in the community, in the early hours of the day. who spoke with OSUN “A woman, who was DEFENDER, revealed that the hawking pap early in the corpse had been buried for over morning of Wednesday, five years and that the man spotted the torso of the found dead did not operate suspect sticking out of the alone. grave and raised the alarm. “This particular corpse was “His corpse was discovered buried five years ago and the around 6.30am and his head suspected ritualist attended the was covered in mud. The burial in Ilobu. There are residents here alerted the indications that he did not dig police division in Ilobu and the grave alone. they later came to evacuate the “What we discovered was body and put it in their van that he may have been before taking him away,” he attempting to cut off the head said. of the corpse, when something The remains of the deceased suddenly hooked him, as he were said to have been managed to force half of his deposited at the Ladoke body into the grave to cut off Akintola University Teaching the head. Hospital (LAUTECH), “He got hooked and died on mortuary in Osogbo, the state the spot, a development which capital.

•(R-L) The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Lesley Draice; former governor, State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and World Bank Representative, Prof. Don Bundy at the Technical Workshop on Home Grown School Feeding Programmes at Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja last Monday. Photo: STATE OF OSUN GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

Osun Assembly Appeals For Suspension Of NASU Strike By KAZEEM MOHAMMED

HE State of Osun House of Assembly has appealed to the non-teaching staff of the state-owned tertiary institutions to call off their three-month old strike action in the interest of the students. The state parliament made institutions, Head of Service the appeal at a joint meeting and the Commissioner for with the Joint Negotiation Finance in Osogbo, the state Council (JNC) of Non-academic capital on Monday. Staff Union (NASU) of the NASU of the state-owned tertiary institutions embarked on strike action on March 11 over their demands for the successes in the area of remittance of their contributory service delivery to women pension fund till date and their and children. inclusion into the 65 years These areas, the retirement age bill for the commissioner disclosed, included; Vitamin A academic staff, which is distribution, deworming of presently before the state children, screening of legislature among others. Addressing the meeting, the children for malnutrition, routine immunisation, Speaker of the Assembly, distribution of ‘Mama Kit’, Honourable Najeem Salaam, family planning communities said the state parliament would and promotion of key do everything within its power household practices such as to address the demands raised hand-washing and exclusive by the union. breast-feeding among under He added that the House five children and women in would see to the inclusion of the state. She maintained that it was the non-academic staff in the the desire and objective of new retirement age as the state government to demanded by them. “We want to appeal to you improve on the above result. The health commissioner to go back to work and believe appealed to all the Executive in us that we will see to your Secretaries to continue to demands. render their support in their “Embarking on strike cannot respective councils, solve the problem. It will rather especially as it concerns worsen the situation and that mothers and children.

Maternal, Child Health Week Commences In Osun By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

HE Wife of the Governor of the State of Osun, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola, has called on all mothers to come out en masse to ensure that their children are properly immunised against the six childhood killer diseases. She made this known Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Temitope during the occasion of the Ilori, reiterated that since flag-off ceremony of promotion of functional Maternal, Newborn and health care is part of the sixChild Health Week point integral action plan of (MNCHW), which was held the administration of at the New Freedom Park, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, it Ijebu-Jesa, headquarters of is imperative that the Oriade Local Government government would do Council Area of the state. everything to see to it that The Osun First Lady its citizens, both women called on all mothers to see and children, enjoy the the opportunity as one that best that the health should be effectively programme would provide. utilised in order to secure a On her part, the State good future for the children. Commissioner for Health The wife of the governor, noted that the MNCHW who was represented by the had recorded huge State Commissioner for

is why we are appealing to you that for the sake of the future of our children, go back to work.” Salaam also reaffirmed the commitment of the state legislature to ensure that the state government solves the problem surrounding the nonremittance of their contributory pension. Also speaking, the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Akintunde Adegboye, who presided over the meeting, urged the union not to allow the strike to be politicised. Adegboye said a committee would be set up to look into the demands of the union, while calling for the understanding of the union members. “The issue of workers and union should not be politicised and that is why we are appealing to you to call-off the strike,” Adegboye said. Explaining the rationale behind the circumstances surrounding the non-remittance of the contributory pension fund till date, the State Commissioner for Finance, Dr Wale Bolorunduro, the situation was caused by paucity of funds, due to the reduction in the federal allocation to the state, adding that the fund had so far been remitted up to June

2013. He stressed that it was difficult for the state government to pull out of the contributory pension scheme because it is a federal law. Bolorunduro then stated that the government would do everything possible to work out the gap in the contributory pension, which is the major issue resulting to the strike action. The commissioner assured the non-teaching staff that all the deductions made since the beginning of the scheme by the government had been well kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria, as the former Head of Service, Segun Akinwusi was compelled by the governor to do so in accordance with the law,. Earlier in his remarks, the NASU’s JNC Chairman, Mr. Olusoji Fasipe, noted that some of the demands of the union had been on before the advent of the current administration, while some are new. Saying that the union leaders have been able to take the explanations and the appeal of the government and the Assembly with maturity, he stressed that it would be relayed to the congress for appropriate action on the current strike.

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OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Osun Gov Election: Make Your Intention Known, Labour Party Tells Potential Aspirants By ISMAEEL UTHMAN

ARELY two and a half months to the election in the State of Osun, the Labour Party (LP) has called on all qualified and capable members of the party, who are interested in the governorship ticket of the party, to signify their interest. A press statement signed the party has neither been by the Chairman of the party nominated nor chosen to be in the state, Comrade Rufus candidate of the party in the 9, 2014 Oyatoro, said no member of August

gubernatorial election. Oyatoro said he was speaking in his authority as the authentic chairman of the party recognized by the court of law, in accordance with the constitution of the party. He said, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, one of the

governorship aspirants of the LP, at a meeting held with him and the police, has said that he only met with his followers at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park recently, a programme believed to be the flag-off of his campaign. Oyatoro alleged that

Akinbade had deceived the police that the programme was just a convergence of his followers, stating that the event was meant for Akinbade to declare his intention. The press statement made available to OSUN DEFENDER on Monday reads in part: “The Chairman of Labour Party in Osun State, Comrade Rufus Oyatoro, has seen a necessity to clarify and enlighten the general public and the people of the state on the current status of the LP as an entity in the political environment of the state. “A meeting was held with the Commissioner of Police in the state and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Akinbade

informed all stakeholders including myself that he was only trying to meet with his followers at the Freedom Park, Osogbo. “That is against his first letter, where he was billed to stage the flag-off of his campaign, which eventually turned to a campaign/flagoff rally, having deceived the police into believing that it was just a convergence of his followers. “We are using this medium to invite all qualified and capable individuals that are interested in the gubernatorial ticket of the LP in the state to signify and make known their intention between now and seven days. Such individual should have membership of the LP properly and adequately formalized.”

Osun Govt Intervenes In Herdsmen, Farmers’ Crisis By KAZEEM MOHAMMED OVERNMENT of the State of Osun has intervened in the looming crisis between the herdsmen and farmers in Araromi Iwata Community in Ejigbo Local Government Council Area of the state over the alleged destruction of farm produce by cattle rearers in the community. The intervention came they tried to stop the on the heel of a letter herdsmen from entering addressed to Governor their farms, the cattle Rauf Aregbesola by the rearers threatened them Department of State with dangerous weapons. Services on the alleged The security agency “threat to law and order then sought the over the activities of intervention of the state Bororo cattle rearers in government to prevent Araromi Iwata escalation of hostilities Community”. between the aggrieved The letter stated that the farmers and the warring destruction of farms and herdsmen. farm crops of the farmers As a follow-up to the in the community by letter, the governor, cattle belonging to the through, his Assistant Fulanis was generating Chief of Staff, Honourable tension, as the farmers Oguntola Toogun, complained that the conveyed a meeting, where herdsmen have been taken he cautioned both parties their cattle to graze on against any action that their farms. could truncate the current It also stated that the peace of the state. farmers had also He recalled that the issue complained that whenever of cattle rearers and farmers was not peculiar to the community, as it had led to loss of lives and properties in many parts of the country. will borrow a state N40 Toogun then appealed to million, when some banks the parties to live together are folding up just because with love and not allow of N25 million? anything to cause crisis “It is said that fault- among them, saying; finders will find faults even “there is every tendency of in paradise, among who is having disagreement where two or more people live Omisore,” he said. Kolapo therefore, together, but the level of the reiterated that Omisore’s problem will depend on how much they love each claims about the current other.” administration are nothing Part of the resolutions at to write home about. the meeting was that the He added that since the farmers, Fulanis and the inception of Governor Bororos cattle rearers A r e g b e s o l a ’ s should ensure peaceful coamong administration in the state, existence themselves. there have been radical It was also agreed that changes in all sectors of any herdsman who wants governance. to settle down in the “The governor provided community during the dry stipends for the aged, season should be referred massive employment to Fulani leaders for proper opportunities for the control. A nine-man committee teeming youths of the state and provision of ever- was subsequently set up, available ambulance comprising of the farmers, services for emergency herdsmen and government situations within the state,” officials to handle any case of abnormal grazing in the he said. area.

•The State of Osun Commissioner for Health; Dr. (Mrs.) Temitope Ilori, holding a set of twins, while the Executive Secretary, Oriade Local Government, Hon. Taiwo Fatiregun, administers vaccines during the commencement of the 2014 Maternal and Child Week at New Freedom Park, recently in Ijebu-Jesa.

Authenticate Your Claims - APC Tells Omisore

LL Progressives Congress (APC) has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that a politician like its governorship candidate in the State of Osun cannot protect a personality he doesn’t have, if all he keeps doing is to lie about things and issues he cannot authenticate. The APC was countering his home town of Ile-Ife that Iyiola Omisore’s statement was his idea or which he that he influenced the influenced. The Navy sighting of Air Force Safety Communications School was School in Ipetu-Ijesa, the a naval idea and it was not Navy Communications under Omisore’s watch in the School in Ile-Ife and the Senate. Army Recruitment Centre in “So the man lied when he Esa-Oke in the Osun East said he influenced that Senatorial District. school’s location in Ile-Ife”, “If any person or persons the APC said. could justifiably lay any such Omisore lied that he had claim, they are former Chief “facilitated many of Defence Staff, Airforce i n f r a s t r u c t u r a l Marchall Oluseyi Petinrin development” in Ile-Ife; (rtd) former Chairman of the “why couldn’t he name House Committee on them?” The APC asked. Defence, Hon. Wole Oke, “Anybody in Osun or and Erelu Olusola Obada. anywhere else who First of all, these projects continues to say without Omisore made reference to, producing detailed credible were federal government evidence that Aregbesola institutions, which ideas has led Osun State into about their creation were indebtedness of N403 billion initiated and their locations is a shameless liar unworthy decided within the security of being a governor of any apparatus of the state. And that is what government before they were Omisore has been doing in confirmed by the the last one year. appropriate Defence “The most ridiculous of Committees of the House Omisore’s lies is that and the Senate. Aregbesola has spent N3 “What Omisore’s billion on billboards and Appropriation Committee posters for a second term perhaps did was to approve campaign. Again, the man the funds estimated for the did not produce a shred of projects, which were already evidence to back his a done-deal before it got to allegation. the appropriation committee. According to the APC: It is a blatant lie for Omisore “Omisore needs education to claim responsibility for on what’s going on in Osun. influencing these projects It will interest the shameless into Osun,” the APC said. liars in the PDP under “What we challenged Omisore’s leadership that up Omisore about is to identify to this point in time, any “spectacular” Aregbesola has no idea who achievement to his credit in is putting up those billboards

across the state, neither has he engaged any group or individuals to print or paste posters anywhere inside or outside the State of Osun,” the APC argued. “We maintain that Omisore is both unworthy and unqualified to be governor of the State of Osun because he lacks the moral, ethical and responsible credentials to occupy that post, especially

so because he had once been impeached for wrong-doing as a former deputy governor,” the APC alleged. “Only within the fold of lawlessness, impunity and utter disregard for respect of the law, as the PDP exemplifies today, can excriminals be supported into the office of governor, as we are witnessing in Ekiti and Osun states,” the APC concluded.

Omisore Is A Liar – Alimi By ABRAHAM JESUDOYIN HE Commissioner for Local government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the State of Osun; Mr. Kolapo Alimi, has described the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Mr Iyiola Omisore, as a liar and fault-finder. Kolapo stated that all another N40 million from a allegations posed by Nigeria bank as mere tissues Omisore and his cohorts, of lies. that the state governor, “Which bank in Nigeria Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, is inflating the costs of major projects in the state, is false. He stated this during a chat with OSUN DEFENDER last Saturday in Osogbo, the state capital. The commissioner added that the state government is not in any bad-debt situation, as no bank will ever lend to a poor state. “If those banks lending to the state have not seen anything worthwhile, they wouldn’t have lend to the state” He disqualified an allegation by Omisore that the governor has borrowed •ALIMI

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OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

For Defacing Osogbo Road, Angry Pupils Remove Omisore’s Posters

OME pupils of public schools on Monday evening, along the popular Alekuwodo area of Osogbo, the State of Osun capital, were seen removing campaign posters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Iyiola Omisore, unprompted over what they believed was a deliberate attempt to deface the beauty of the newlyconstructed boulevard. The new avenue in the state more attractive to Osogbo is part of the visitors and investors. The new Alekuwodo manifestations of the urban renewal scheme of the Road wears the look of any avenue with Aregbesola administration, modern where the government says walkway lined with flowers it hopes to turn around the over a well-constructed environment and outlook of road. Residents of Osogbo nine selected cities to make

woke up on Monday to find the beautification exercise on Alekuwodo being defaced by Omisore’s posters. According to the medium’s findings, the pupils were angered by the fact that ever since the beautification of the road, no politician has toyed with the idea of pasting posters on the walk-way and demarcation newly constructed by the present administration in the state.

Of the almost known six candidates of different political parties that have become prominent for the August 9 governorship election, the medium further gathered, only Omisore’s posters have surfaced on the new road; a development many viewed as total disregard for ongoing urban beautification exercise of A r e g b e s o l a ’ s administration. Most of the pupils, who

were returning from their various schools after the school hours, took turn to remove the posters of the PDP candidate from the wall. As if it was intentional, the campaign posters of Omisore lined the pillar of the painted wall from the Okefia through Akindeko area on both sides. The posters, which were pasted overnight, did not catch the attention of majority until noon of Monday, as passers-by and residents of Alekuwodo steered at the said posters with disdain. Ibrahim Adegbayi, a resident of Alekuwodo said: “It is quite insensitive of anybody to have pasted such on that wall, even the

incumbent governor, with his posters all over Osogbo, dares not do that on Alekuwodo. “This shows that the PDP has no respect for the beautification of Alekuwodo. Ever since Aregbesola came, the idea of turning Osogbo to a status of a state capital is manifesting through several beautification efforts. “Similar thing happened during the declaration of same person, when posters were pasted on Federal road signposts and there was nobody to come out to complain about it. I have no problem with politicians pasting posters, but there should be some areas that should be spared,” he pointed out.

Group Carpets PDP Youths Over Statement On APC, Tinubu By SHINA ABUBAKAR

•(L-R) Assistant Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Oyo Zone (NSCDC); Alhaji Ahmed Bodurin; Publisher of Nigeria Vogue Magazine, Mr Taliat Gafar and other dignitaries during this year’s presentation Photo: JESUDOYIN ABRAHAM of Awards of Excellence and Integrity to patriots in Osogbo last Saturday.

Muslims Tasked To Be Dedicated By MURTALA AGBOOLA

The cleric expressed happiness that the community has eventually come to stand. Amongst the achievements of OSMC, he said, were the recruitment of 250 Muslim teachers into public schools under the immediate-past government of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; radio Dawah enlightenment programme that educates Muslims about the religion. However, some of the standing committees of the OSMC are the Sharia Panel, which looks into matters involving Muslims in the state; the building

HE President, Osun State Muslim Community (OSMC), Sheik Salaudeen Olayiwola, has charged Muslims in the State of Osun to be steadfast in Islam by adhering to the tenets of the religion. He made the charge in Mecca in 1997, when Ilobu, headquarters of Muslims from the state, Irepodun Local Government among whom were Alhaji Council Area of the state on Mustafa Olawuyi, Alhaji Sunday at the monthly Lateef Olayanju and the meeting of the OSMC held Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Abdul Rasheed Ayotunde at Ilobu Central Mosque. The cleric noted that Olabomi, met in Mecca. He stated that they Islam is a religion of peace, saying that anything that a brainstormed on the need to Muslim would do must have a common forum for all always be in line with the Muslims in the state, which necessitated the principle. Sheik Salahudeen also establishment of the urged clerics to always community. preach acts that would make their followers closer to God and ensure cordial By KAZEEM MOHAMMED relationship with one another. HE All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajegunle Auto In his lecture, a Muslim Spare Part Market in Osogbo, the state capital of scholar, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Osun, has cautioned the people not to allow Abdulsalaam, enjoined all themselves to be deceived by opposition politicians, who are Muslims to follow the steps desperate to take over the governance of the state by hook or of Prophet Mohammed by crook. believing in Allah and This came at an inter- Ganiyu Bintinlaye, while the obeying the Prophet’s religious prayer session Christian version was led by deeds. organised by the APC in the Pastor Ayobami Adeyemi. He said, it is only by market on Monday to seek Speaking at the session, the doing this that one can claim God’s intervention for the re- APC leader in the market, to be a true Muslim. election of Governor Rauf Alhaji Sule Aderemi, warned The cleric also Aregbesola in the August 9 the politicians that are planning emphasized the fact that governorship election and to cause violence to rig the bearing the name alone is release of the abducted election, saying that the people not enough to make one a students of the Government of the state would not fold their good Muslim. Girls Secondary School, arms and allow the future of While tracing the history Chibok, Borno State, by their children destroyed. of OSMC, the Vice members of the Boko Haram He stated that Aregbesola President, Osun East, Alhaji sect. has been able to prove to the Sadiq Bello, recalled that the The Islamic version of the people of the state that he is formation was conceived prayers was led by Imam committed to the during the pilgrimage to Ismail Atilola and Alhaji transformation of human and

committee, which is involved in the construction of the secretariat for OSMC. Meanwhile, the OSMC has resolved to hold a preRamadan lecture titled: “Bridging the Gap between Islam and Muslim” scheduled for Saturday, June 15, 2014 at the secretariat of the community. The newly-elected officials were inaugurated with Shiek Salawudeen retained as the President and the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun and the Aragbiji, Oba AbdulRasheed Olabomi, as patrons.

socio-political youth group, Aregbesola Students’ Vanguard (ASV), has described the position of PDP Youth Frontiers as ‘silly’ over the threat of anarchy in Osun and Ekiti states. The group in a statement what Tinubu said regarding signed by its Coordinator, roasting of poll riggers was Miss Kikelomo Saka, said just a public warning, saying the statement PDP Youth the people of Osun have Frontiers issued saying the vowed to put up resistance APC and Tinubu should be against anyone who held responsible for attempts to subvert their will anarchy in Osun and Ekiti during the poll. after the forthcoming According to the gubernatorial polls in both statement, the people of Ekiti states was not well thought and Osun states know the out. right persons they want at It would be recalled that the helms of affairs in the Senator Bola Tinubu had two states and would not declared that any attempt to allow anybody from rig polls in the two states anywhere to influence their would attract severe decision in whatsoever way. punishment for those who The statement added that might want to perpetrate what the PDP did during the such act. April 14, 2007 election in the The PDP Youth Frontiers state is still fresh in the alleged that should any memory of the teeming anarchy arose after the poll, residents, hence, the resolve the APC and its leaders to severely deal with should be held responsible. anyone attempting to The ASV in the statement tamper with popular will of described the statement the people. credited to the PDP youth It reiterated that the move group as lacking substance, among members of the PDP describing it as a way of in Ekiti and Osun has shown putting excuses to that they do not wish to perpetrate their evil acts, allow the people vote and which the party is known for determine who govern them in all elections. through the ballot, but to The group disclosed that suppress the people’s will, which would be vehemently resisted. The statement reads: “Anything that would “What Asiwaju Bola Tinubu truncate the current peace and said was just to re-echo the progress we are enjoying under determination of the people the present administration, we of the two states that any will not allow it,” he said. attempt to rig the election Also speaking, the party would be chaotic because chairman in the market, Alhaji we will not fold our arms and Wahab Oyewale, urged the electorate not to be deceived by allow anybody subvert our the action of the opposition will as a people, hence politicians who engage in the politicians must play exchange of voters’ cards for according to the rules of the money because of their game. “Elections are guided by desperation. “We are all witnesses to the the rules stipulated by the development that Aregbesola Electoral Acts and we has brought to this state during believe if politicians play the his first term and I am sure that game in line with the rules, the people of Osun cannot the people and the country afford to allow it to stop. would be better off, hence, “For us to achieve this, we whoever seeks to must be committed and manipulate the process, steadfast, so that we will not derail from the path of progress should be dealt with in that we are taking,” he charged. whatever manner.”

Ajegunle APC Prays For Aregbesola’s Re-election

material resources of the state and deserve to be given another chance. Describing the governor as a focused and prudent leader, the APC leader noted that despite the distractions from the opposition, Aregbesola has not relented in making the state a reference point to other states in Nigeria and the whole of African continent. “Those desperate politicians should be cautioned that what they did in 2007 by stealing our votes would not be possible this time around, because the people of Osun are ready to defend their future and the future of their children. “Aregbesola has set Osun on a right path and he deserves to be given another chance, because the people appreciate his efforts.

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Smart card for Osun workers: Another first The simplest way to justify it is that it is borne of the need to eliminate sources of financial waste and leakage used by some dishonest workers to deprive government of needed funds. Indeed, it comes as a bold measure to overhaul the personnel payment system, to ensure that the state derive maximum value from personnel costs. More than these however is that it represents a multipronged response to the growing demand for the application of Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the processes

of governance. And here, it does not matter whether the challenge is one of tax administration or personnel issues, the reality is that the world has come to see ICT not only as a tool to get the jobs done, but the most efficient one. It is therefore heartwarming that the forward-looking administration is not only leading the pack in embracing change, but in showing the rest of the federation the limitless possibilities inherent in it. If anyone was ever in doubt about the place of ICT in the Aregbesola administration, that ought to have

been settled with the governor’s emphatic resolve to go the whole hog: “We have since intensified our effort to make ICT an inherent part of our public administrative system. The introduction of this new smart electronic identity card is another component of that overall effort”. And as for the results – which underlies the wisdom in the endeavour – the governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was even more upbeat when he noted that “To be sure, it was through the application of ICT to our tax administration and

revenue collection that enabled us to increase our internally generated revenue by 100 per cent within the first few months of our administration”. We are therefore particularly enthused at the promises of the smart card - a tripartite arrangement between the state government, Charms Plc and First Bank Plc. In a nationwhere a standardised means of identification remains underdeveloped, the coming of the integrated card will obviously fill that important gap, not to talk of the multiple benefits in value addition to the user and the issuer, alike.

Osun And Religious Tolerance the way he stood up to extraction with an

know this issue I want to write to you about needs a bit of caution, but I am going to write based on the little information at my disposal. Any government, which aims to superimpose one religion or religious group over the other, to me, is an unreasonable one and I am sure Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is a r e a s o n a b l e administrator. Yes, he is a Muslim and he is not hiding that fact, but the truth is that apart from the theatrics of politics, does Aregbesola look like an Islamic fundamentalist or a Muslim fanatic?

For God’s sake, the man is not religiously fanatical, but I would see him in the realm of being pious; he doesn’t joke with his religion. If you tag him a Marxist, a welfarist or a socialist, then you

might be right, because this is all what characteristics you can find in the ‘enigma’ called Rauf Aregbesola. The other day, I was watching his biographical film on OSBC and I noticed

a bully in his school and beat the boy blueblack and I jokingly said it was a character he still had; he simply abhors cheating. I don’t want to go to his political appointees, having

orthodox background and I can categorically tell you that the Ogbeni has been fair to christians. To our Muslim brethren, my advise is that you should not see the governor as only your own, being a fellow Muslim, but rather, you should see him in the light of being a sacrifice that you have bequeathed the whole State of Osun. After his term of office, then you can have him back. With this done, I can assure you that peace would in Osun.

more Christians than Muslims but the truth is that these people are working without any quarrel and the state is moving. So, what is the fuss about? •ABOSEDE I am a Christian of FELIX, Edunabon, the Pentecostal State of Osun.

with the coming of the card, the state government can look forward to maximising its revenue and with it, additional prospects of enhanced valuedelivery, improved capacity by the workforce, and better optimisation of the cost of running the government.

Of course, for the individual civil servant, it means that he now has a personalised electronic card with biometric features for identification. While the holder’s profile embedded in the card offers a guarantee of security, the card, linked to international payment platforms also enjoys the dual advantage of being used as either a credit or a debit card for purposes of financial transactions.

That is why this newspaper couldn’t agree more with one of the partners in the project that it is a product of good thinking.

And for the government, it promises the elimination of the fraud that has long been associated with personnel management;

OSUN DEFENDER Publisher

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OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guarantee Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondence to the above mail address. ISSN: 0794-8050 Telephone: 0803-392-7286, 08033880205 Website: www.osundefender.com/index.php e-mail: osundefender@yahoo.com

INTERVIEW

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

PDP Has Nothing To Offer Osun - Akerele Sikiru Akerele is an ambitious politician from Ila-Orangun, who is committed to the development of the society. He sojourns in the United States of America. In this online interview with KAZEEM MOHAMMED, he spoke on the activities of the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his expectations in the August 9 governorship election in the state. Excerpts: SDF: Within the last three and O half years, will you say that the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has performed to the expectations of the people? AKERELE: There is no gainsaying the fact that a responsible government can only be recognised by his policies and programmes and that is the responsiveness which the present administration has been able to display. It is an understatement to say that Aregbesola has performed to the expectation of the people, but it will be proper to say that he has performed beyond the expectation of all of us. We all knew what Osun was before the advent of the administration and we all know what it is now. The truth is that in all sectors of governance, Ogbeni Aregbesola has demonstrated that he is indeed a leader committed to service and betterment of lives of the masses. It is on record that in the history of this state, no government has been able to introduce ground-breaking initiatives like the present administration in all sectors of governance. Do you want to talk in the area of education, health, agriculture, massive infrastructural development, economic development, industrialisation, youth employment or what? In the history of this country, no government, either at the federal or state level has been able to employ 20,000 youths within 100 days of assumption of office as Aregbesola did under Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme (OYES). Two years after, another 20,000 youths were employed, making it 40,000 youths that have been empowered under the scheme. Please tell me, which government has been able to achieve such milestone. Apart from that, I am aware that not less than 4,000 were employed into the civil service, more teachers were employed, several youths are being empowered through agriculture and other skills, industries are springing up and employing more youths, just as several women are being empowered through soft loans and skill acquisition. In the area of education, I am aware that the enrolment into public schools has doubled now because of the several initiatives of this government. Do you want to talk of O’MEAL programme through which elementary school kids are being fed with nutritious food, or Opon Imo (tablet of knowledge), which gives pupils opportunity to read without carrying heavy books, or the new school building environments that are enough to attract pupils to the schools. That is the kind of committed leadership they are enjoying abroad and we thank God that we also have

such person in Osun. Apart from that, tell me which government has come and constructed the kind of massive road network that this government has embarked on in this state. None! When I came around the other time, I moved round many parts of the state and I was marvelled to find out that hardly will you see a town where roads are not being constructed by this government. The administration of Chief Bisi Akande that reigned between 1999 and 2003 did all it could to restore our lost glory, but the enemies of progress did not allow him to finish it before they rigged him out. After that, we suffered so much before God eventually gave us Aregbesola; a gift that we must value and not allow to go without exhausting eight years. Inspite of the limited resources accruable to the state, Osun has been transformed under the present government. OSDF: But the opposition, especially the PDP, are saying that this government has performed below expectation and promising that they can do better? AKERELE: Everyone can recall that for seven and half years after Chief Bisi Akande was rigged out, the PDP was in government and Osun went through hell. Everything was turned upside down and people were subjected to trauma throughout the period. There was no opportunity for employment, people could not sleep with their two eye closed, our roads are bad, education was in shambles, our health system was nothing to reckon with and Osun was far behind its peers in the country. None of the political players in that party can come out and say this is what we have done to better the lives of the people. But now, things have changed and this government has recorded first in many of its programmes in this country, even in the whole of Africa, if not in the whole world. OYES was a programme that no government has ever done, the same thing goes for Opon Imo, care for the elderly and several others. So, even a party that had failed us now come back to tell us that they would better the lives of the people, you should know that they are mischievous and deceptive. If truly they are sincere about what they claim they want to do for us, they would not be condemning all the good policies of this government like Opon Imo, transformation of the educational system, the OMEAL programme, the massive road construction among other. They are liars and they are not sent by God to rule us because they are failure. They have nothing good to offer, rather, their target is to come and share our money again and bring Osun backward, but we must not

•AKERELE

allow that to happen. OSDF: Your party, APC had alleged that the PDP is planning mayhem and there have also been counter-accusations from the PDP, what is your take? AKERELE: My brother, when you are talking about a party that is known for violence, you can trace the history of the PDP and also trace the history of our own party to arrive at a conclusion. We don’t need a priest to tell us that PDP is known for violence. Have you forgotten the mayhem they unleashed before, during and after the 2007 elections? They killed a number of people in Igbajo, Ikirun, Ile-Ife, Ilesa, and many other places and those that were killed were our party members. Several others were injured, just because they knew that they had been totally rejected and they want to occupy the governorship seat by all means. The same thing happened in 2011 when people were murdered inside a church close to the house of a contestant from our party. There is no programme the PDP holds that you will not experience one attack or the other and the recent one was the attack on a former governor of Osun, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, who was a PDP governorship aspirant. He was attacked because he was contesting against Iyiola Omisore. We know they are a planning to unleash mayhem on the people due to their desperation, but I am sure that God is supreme and He would not allow their evil plan to work. OSDF: How do you think all these can be stopped? AKERELE: The first solution is that the security agencies should be alive to their responsibilities and ensure that there is security of lives and property. No doubt, the government of Aregbesola has done so much to make the security of lives

and property effective, but the agencies must also do more, so that the peace we are enjoying since the assumption of this administration would not be terminated. Secondly, the youths should have a rethink and shun any politician planning to use them for violence. Youths are the leaders of tomorrow and they must not allow that dream to fade because of the ambition of some desperate politicians, who have nothing reasonable to offer. OSDF: What is your take on the August 9 governorship election in the state? AKERELE: Aregbesola and our party have been able to demonstrate their capacity to transform the state and we are all living witnesses. Based on that alone, it is sure by the grace of God, Ogbeni Aregbesola will rule Osun for another four years, because our people are not daft as the PDP think. Osun people are wiser than all these people that think we don’t know what we are doing and I know that would be demonstrated by re-electing Aregbesola, a committed leader. However, when the people demonstrate their willingness to allow Aregbesola to continue, we must make sure that we defend our votes and not allow election riggers to steal our votes. We should be wise with our votes and we should not sell our votes because that is the power we have to secure a better future for our children. We learnt that these mischief makers are deceiving people to get their voters’ cards by giving them token, but we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by selling our rights. We also call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow our votes to count, so that people can continue to enjoy the ongoing development in our state.

FOR THE RECORDS

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

O’Meal Has Impacted On Our People, Economy - Aregbesola Address Delivered By The Governor Of The State Of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, At The High-Level Technical Meeting On Home-Grown School Feeding And Health Programme, Held At Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, On Monday, May 19, 2014. IT is with genuine warmness of the heart that I stand here today to share our experience on the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme, which we christened O’MEALS. The O’MEALS, I must say, has come a long way. The progress we have made and the achievements we have recorded in the State of Osun is on the one hand a clear testimony to what can be gained from multi-layered and multi-level coordination. It is, on the other hand, an affirmation of the benefit of political vision and passion. The O’MEALS had its humble beginning in the inclusion by African Governments of locally-sourced school feeding programmes in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in 2003. The same year also witnessed the launch of an initiative by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), along with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Millennium Hunger Task Force. The initiative involved ‘a pilot Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) designed to link school feeding to agricultural development through the purchase and use of locally and domestically produced food’. Our country, Nigeria, happened to be one of the 12 pilot countries invited to implement the programme. As a result, the Federal Government came up with the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act in 2004, which provided the enabling legislative backing for the execution of the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP). The Federal Ministry of Education selected 13 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), to begin a phased-pilot implementation of the programme. Osun was fortunately among the selected states. Thus the pilot primary school feeding programme in our state began as Osun State Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme in May 2006. However, on our assumption of office in November 2010, we undertook a comprehensive review of the programme and re-launched it as O’MEALS on April 30, 2012. We immediately began its execution across all the 1,375 Elementary Schools in Osun. The home grown feeding programme for school pupils has the advantage of being consistent with our own government’s goals – of banishing poverty, banishing hunger, creating work and wealth, creating functional education, restoring healthy living and engendering communal peace and progress. Hence, we integrated it within the larger context of our overall development programme implementation. The objectives behind O’MEALS are: improvement of the nutrition and health of our school children; increase in school enrolment, retention and completion; and reduction of poverty and stimulation of small and medium scale enterprises development. Towards these ends, experts were consulted to draw up suitable school-day menu, while 3007 community caterers were employed to provide the meals on a daily basis. The days and menu are as follows: MONDAY (YAM with FISH STEW and ORANGE); TUESDAYS (RICE and BEANS with CHICKEN and ORANGE); WEDNESDAYS (BEANS PORRIDGE and BREAD with WHOLE EGG and BANANA); THURSDAYS (RICE with EGUSIGARNISHED VEGETABLE SOUP with CHICKEN and BANANA); FRIDAYS (COCOYAM PORRIDGE with

•AREGBESOLA

VEGETABLE SOUP and BEEF, with A SLICE OF PAWPAW). The community caterers were organised into 124 functional Cooperative Investment and Credit Societies (CICS) in order to benefit fully from bulk procurement and allied services. Necessary operational funds are then transferred to the personal bank accounts of each caterer through their CICS. The account from which this funding emanates is secure because it is not accessible through issuance of bank cheques. Funds can only be transferred from the account into the caterers’ and other contractors’ accounts by approved mandates. The caterers receive funds in advance concerning meals to be prepared for school pupils within a two-week period (i.e. 10 school days). For organisational purpose, the number of pupils assigned to each caterer varies and so is the fund allocated. The caterers each benefit from a government facilitated interest-free loan of N41,500 for the acquisition of their cooking and other kitchen utensils. The loan repayment period is spread over 36 months, with N1,152.78kobo deducted from their account every month. Already, our community caterers have each repaid a third of their loans. I must also note that the community caterers are provided free-of-charge with a pair of uniforms (comprising gowns, caps and aprons) by the State Government of Osun at a cost of N11.6 million to the government. The financial implication of feeding our Elementary school pupils is the expenditure of N12.7 million every school day, while the sum of N601,400 is paid out to the 3007 community caterers as transport fares on a daily basis. The

financial expenditure for the O’MEALS is shared between the State Government and the constituting local government councils on a 40-60 per cent ratio respectively. For effective implementation, the O’MEALS Programme is monitored at various levels. At one level, there are Planning Officers within the Local Government Education Authority office who are responsible for carrying out the implementation logistics. They act as liaison between the O’MEALS Office and the community caterers. There are also the Local Inspectors of Education who also operate at the local government authority level. Then, there are the Independent Monitors who are drawn from the ranks of retired civil servants, Parent Teachers Association and community leaders. The O’MEALS Secretariat staff act as coordinators for the monitors. In keeping with our Backward Integration policy, the O’MEALS has an input supply chain that is linked to our various agricultural development projects. Consequently, our OFOPS (Osun Fisheries Outgrowers Production Scheme) provide the catfish used for the school feeding programme. The same applies to eggs, chickens, and cocoyam, which also serves as material input for the feeding programme. Indeed, our administration initiated a ‘Cocoyam Rebirth Programme’, which is a major project under the direct supervision of the Osun Deputy Governor. The Cocoyam Rebirth Programme scheme was designed with the aim of directly reaching the grassroots and practicing farming communities on how to improve and enhance cocoyam production, utilisation and marketing in the state. The ultimate objective is to

revitalise cocoyam cultivation, with a view to using it on the O’MEALS menu. In view of this, a training session was conducted for state and local government extension workers on cocoyam utilisation, production, marketing and post-harvest handling. The training programme, held on June 28, 2012, was attended by 234 extension workers. A similar training programme was conducted for 2,000 farmers on August 8, 2012 across all the nine Federal Constituencies in the state. In the end, 332 Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme cadets, one from each of the electoral wards in the state, were selected as Cocoyam Off-takers for the rebirth programme. The passion, prudence and seriousness we deployed to the implementation of the O’MEALS has earned us the worthy support and partnership of the Londonbased Partnership for Child Development (PCD). Through this fruitful collaboration, we have received technical assistance in redesigning the school feeding programme through endorsement of the Transition Strategy Plan Document. The PCD also facilitated a Study Visit for four officers from O’MEALS Secretariat, along with a member of House of Assembly, to Accra in September 2013 to see the Ghana School Feeding Programme. In the same vein, the PCD has facilitated technical assistance in collaboration with CHI Pharmaceuticals and Osun State Government on School Health and Nutrition (SHN) activities in public Elementary schools, especially regarding deworming of school pupils. It is also, among other assistance programme, helping in the production of a programme document to better guide the implementation of the programme, as well as the appointment of a consultant to facilitate the development of Monitoring and Evaluation System for O’MEALS Programme. The introduction and sustenance of the O’MEALS Programme has enabled us to achieve many of our development objectives. These include among others: Increased enrolment of pupils in our Elementary schools. To be sure, within the first five weeks of our introduction of the O’MEALS, elementary school enrolment shot up by 38,935 pupils. Today, Osun has the highest Elementary school enrolment in Nigeria, second only to Niger State, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This has had the implication of increasing our annual expenditure on O’MEALS to about N3 billion. And this does not include staff salary. The programme has likewise improved the health status of our school pupils benefiting from the programme. It has drastically reduced the incidence of school absenteeism in comparison with the pre-O’MEALS period. As a result of the O’MEALS, the production capacities of the farmersuppliers of farm produce has been boosted, with corresponding increased prosperity for smallholder farmers. The multiplier effects of the economic and material empowerment of different segment of society, consequent upon the implementation of O’MEALS, has had a redounding impact on the lives of our people and economy of Osun. The O’MEALS is thus one programme that is worthy of every naira and kobo that had gone into it. I thank you all for giving me your valuable time.

8 12

PHOTOTALK INTERVIEW

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22,22, 2014 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 2014

All Progressives Congress (APC) Ajegunle Community Organized A Special Prayer For State Of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, On The Forthcoming Governorship Election In The State, Held At Ajegunle Market, Osogbo, Last Monday.

Adedoyin Shares On The Agricultural Vision Of The State Of Osun Photo: SHOLA ADERINTO.

Osun.gov.ng team caught up with Hon Wale Adedoyin, the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security in the State Of Osun. It was an opportunity to shed more light on the agric transformation in the state and the vision of Ogbeni Aregbesola to turn around the economy of the state through agriculture. An explicit interview indeed… Below are excerpts from the interview. OSUN.GOV : What is the vision 1000 MT Warehouse, 1 (No.) 500 MT of the present administration Warehouse, 7 (Nos.) 120 MT Mini concerning agriculture? Warehouses and 92 (9.2MT) Cribs have Hon Adedoyin: The vision of the been constructed across the State to present Administration is to supply at least 10% of daily #3.5 billion worth of serve as On/Off Farm Storage Facilities; Our farmers have also been food (i.e. food consumption provided with credit facilities, propensity) in Lagos market. This presently 3,645 Farmers across the would be achieved through the State benefitted from the sum of evolvement of a progressive, buoyant N476,350,000 from the Government and productive agricultural sector able to guarantee food security and adequate Guaranteed Agriculture Loan Scheme; 268 Farmers benefitted from the sum returns on agricultural investment •Acapable cross section of All Progressives members at Ajegunle N45,662,065 from Market. O-REAP Loan of attracting youths, otherCongress of Scheme and we have earmarked N40m individuals and corporate bodies to the as loan to support Piggery Farmers in sector. The mission is achieving food security, wealth and job creation, youth the State. Land clearing is a challenge to empowerment, economic transformation and making the State of farmers because they do not have the •ADEDOYIN capacity to do that but we intervened, Osun the hub of agriculture and an 3,070.3 Ha of Land Cleared; 6,209.4 Ha benefit of our people and our emporium of commerce in the South how far have you gone in these of land Tractorised across the State. It West of Nigeria. projects? economy.We are encouraging piggery is useless to plant and not transport the production, catfish tilapia breeding, OSUN.GOV: How far has this Hon Adedoyin: The Osun Cattle produce to the market, with regards to vision been achieved? Hub, otherwise referred to as the Beef honey breeding, cattle breeding and that, a total of 156 Km of rural roads Hon Adedoyin: The vision had been processing. This medium is not enough Chain Development Project, was achieved to a very great extent with the were constructed including 25 Km road to detailed all that we have done. initiated by the Aregbesola asphalted in Mokore Farm Settlement, initiation and implementation of Osun Administration with the primary OSUN.GOV: You promise to offer 20 Km in Alaguntan at Ago-Owu Farm Rural Enterprise and Agriculture free transportation services by Railway objectives of introducing new genetics Settlement), 6 Km road at Esa-Oke Programme (O-REAP) under the to improve the carcass and meat quality for farmers, what is the status of this Farm Settlement, 39 Km road at Aregbesola Administration. The of local cattle. The programme targets programme? Pataara, 58 Km roads at other farms Government has put in place O-REAP an initial 10% of the Lagos cattle Hon Adedoyin: The free and an 8 Km road under the Quick as an intervention programme to market estimated between 165,000 – transportation services by railway for Impact Intervention Project (QIIP). We •(L-R) explore the potential of the State to Engineer Olayemi, Sule Aderemi200,000 APC Leader Ajegunle Market, Alhaji cattleatper year. The farmers was initiated andAlhaji implemented have also invested in aquaculture, 3 Wahab Oyewale, APC Chairman at Ajegunle Community is and Alhaji Rasheed ensure massive food production, boost expected to fattenAdebisi and to facilitate transportation of goods and programme •Another section of Christian clerics prayer session.at Fish Farmduring Estatesthe was established during the prayer the statecross economy, achieve an and Muslim slaughter cattle in Osun for the Lagos farm produce to programme. and from Lagos freeacceptable level of farm income, reduce the 3 Senatorial districts in the State market. The facilities we have provided of-charge. This was intended to namely Esa-Odo, Iwo & Owalla. income variability, improve in the hub includes: Construction of eliminate transports cost and invariably A total of 120 Metric Tons of Catfish translate to more profit for farmers competitiveness of the agricultural three (03) feedlot paddocks, sinking of have been produced in partnership with who will not pay for transport. The sector assure safe and high quality four(04) boreholes rehabilitation of Kayolad Nigeria Limited, under Osun produce as well as food security. electricity supply, re-construction of goal is to make farm produce available Fisheries Outgrowers Scheme The notable Agricultural one of the two(02) junior staff quarters at farm prices in Lagos and through (OFOPS) which was supported with Interventions and laudable and grading and construction of farm that capture 10% of the food market in N36, 800,000 to promote Fish achievements follows:1,606 OYES road within the complex. Lagos. The free freight for food production and train Youths. Similarly, Cadets have been trained in Modern OSUN.GOV: The Government is commodities is part of our agricultural under OFOPS, a sum of N253million Agriculture at the newly established Oupgrading infrastructure in the Farm programme intended to assist our was provided under arrangement with REAP Youth Academy located in the 9 Settlements, can you please enlighten farmers to market their produce, Feg-Agro Nig Ltd which is the Scheme minimize wastage and improve their Federal Constituencies while 250 other us further on this? youths have been trained in agricultural Manager, Association of Aquatic Hon Adedoyin: The upgrading of earning power. The food hub is yet to Farmers & Agro-processor of production at Leventis Foundation, infrastructure in the nine (09) Farm be completed to the desired level while Nigeria(AAFAN), State of Osun branch the depots are not fully ready for Ilesa; also 20 youths including O-YES Settlements were undertaken to create to produce 800 metric tons of catfish cadets, O-REAP Youth and the general favourable and conducive environments supply of agricultural products to 57 as well as processing for value addition. markets in each of the 57 Local public have been sponsored to for farmers in the rural areas so that The scheme has supported 400 Fish Germany in pursuit of advanced they have access to their farmlands. Governments in Lagos. Farmers. practical training in Agriculture, and The Administration of Ogbeni believes The free freight for agricultural The big one which has impacted on twenty others are receiving refresher that infrastructures such as good roads, commodities is not catching on with our school feeding programme is the course in German Language at the electricity, potable water, etc would not the people as much as we would want, partnership between TUNS Farm Nig Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife as farmers are yet to take full advantage only enhance human living but would Ltd, TUNS is the Scheme Manager and would soon go to Germany. of the free freight because they are still also greatly boost socio-economic under our Broiler promotion Concerning agric in schools, we are activities of our people. In collaboration held down by the old method of programme. We call it Osun Broiler catching them young, in that wise 153 with Rural Access and Mobility Project transportation.The government of the Outgrowers Production Scheme. A sum state of Osun is still improving upon the of the Ministry of Rural and Secondary Schools across the State of N539,435,200 was provided for 578 Memorandum of Understanding have been supported in various Community Development, the Ministry farms in which over 3,779,400 Day-old between her and the Nigerian Railway Agricultural programmes such as of Agriculture and Food Security Chicks were raised. The farmers have Poultry, Piggery and Crop Production. Corporation. There is no prohibition on (MAFS) made over N185million as profit in this We also have Young Farmers Club how many times goods can be moved. also launched in Schools; In the area of scheme. OSUN.GOV: Osun Cattle Hub in We have invested and encouraging •Another cross section APC members storage facilities, we of have built 1 (No.)on the occasion. Iwo, what informed the project and Continued on page 13 every aspect of agriculture for the

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

PHOTOTALK

Comparison Between The Old Olufi Secondary School And The Ongoing Olufi Middle School In Gbongan, Under The Government Of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola As Captured by Our Cameraman, JESUDOYIN ABRAHAM, Few Days Ago.

•The old structure of the school in Gbongan.

•The ongoing construction of Olufi Middle School project.

PHOTOTALK

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

State Of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, At The Technical Workshop On Home-grown School Feeding Programmes Held At Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Last Monday.

•(R-L) Guest Lecturer/Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Lesley Draice and World Bank Representative, Prof. Don Bundy at the Technical Workshop on Home-Grown School Feeding Programme at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, last Monday.

The Monthly Meeting Of The Muslim Community Held At Ilobu Central Mosque, Ilobu, State Of Osun, Last Sunday Photo: ABRAHAM JESUDOYIN

•(L-R)The Chief Imam of Erin-Osun, Alhaji Abdul-Fatai Aladewura; Chief Imam of Ilobu, Alhaji Muhamadu Jamiu and President of the Muslim Community, Sheik Salarudeen Olayiwola, at the meeting.

•A cross section of Muslims at the meeting.

FEATURE

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Bring Back Our Girls: Beyond Politics, How To Avoid A Repeat am a Nigerian, proud of my country and what our fathers and those before them have achieved. I am an “Andrew”, one of those that left these shores for greener pastures but fortunate enough to be one of those that have come back home after 18 years of living in the West. I would like to first address the barrage of western media coverage of the unconscionable act of the abduction of over 270 of our daughters and children in Chibok about three weeks ago. I want to state categorically that this is a sad time in the history of our nation with our daughters missing. The question is; does this event warrant the nonstop barrage by the western press on our country and how ‘we’ and our country are failures? Nigeria all of a sudden is a pariah in the world stage because of this single event carried out by evil men? Let us take a step back in the not too distant history; did the event of September 11th 2011 not happen in the United States with over 4,000 lives lost on a single day in a single location? Did the terrorist bombing on the London Underground not happen in July 2005 in the United Kingdom with several lives lost? Did the governments and people of these countries become pariahs on the world stage? All nations and people worldwide rallied around the people of these western countries to condemn and support them through the difficult period in their history. The people and most importantly of the UK and USA learnt from these incidents, looking at root causes and taking preventive actions to avoid a repeat of those horrendous incidents. Nigerians need to proudly be united at this difficult time and ensure this never happens again. We must and will find our girls with the assistance we are now receiving from several countries but as a nation and people, we need to address a few issues. The incident at Chibok was a failure of leadership, whose leadership you may ask? Failure of leadership of you and I; not just the Federal Government of Nigeria or the state governments alone. As a people, we have buried our heads in sand individually like ostriches, with no concern for our fellow Nigerians, while this may have been more rampant with the political class, we have all stood by over the last few years of our democracy, watching as the divide between the rich and poor grew wider, equality in standards no longer existed in the nation our fathers and fore father fought and died for. The middle class disappeared and we just watched; it is not my business! I am not a politician! As long as I can feed my immediate family, nothing else matters! “We the people” had the power through the ballot box to engender change, put true servant leaders in leadership positions with policies and programmes to deal with germane issues of infrastructure, I

•Wife of State of Osun Governor, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola (6TH right); State Deputy Governor, Otunba (Mrs) Grace Titilayo LaoyeTomori (5th left); a member, House of Representatives, representing Ayedaade/Irewole/Isokan Federal Constituency, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran (5th right); Wife of the Speaker, State of Osun House of Assembly, Mrs Adebimpe Salaam (3rd left) and other dignitaries during the protest by women and female school pupils in Osun led by Mrs Aregbesola and Otunba Laoye-Tomori over the abduction of some female pupils of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in Osogbo, recently. By DOTUN BABAYEMI

development, improving the economic lot of Nigerians as a people both now but most importantly for the future but we keep failing in this regard! We allow a few miscreants without vision or leadership qualities either get voted or rigged into office. That is a topic of discussion for another day and piece though! Let’s get back to the issue at hand, why did Chibok happen? What do we need to do to avoid a repeat! Are there local solutions that have worked anywhere in the African or Nigerian environment? Respectfully, I put it to you that Chibok happened due to a lack of engagement of the youths in our environment. It happened because of the inequality of standard of living between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ that are neighbors in my country and the flagrant display of ill gotten wealth. Rather than engage our youths constructively, they were used for political gains, stupidly in most instances armed and then dumped by their political benefactors! What do young people in this situation do? Help themselves through violence and crime! Why are we surprised! It is at this point that I will like to refer our leaders and but most especially you, the reader of this piece and our nation to one of the states in Nigeria, the state of Osun, where a guy who calls himself ‘Mister’ Governor has led his team and positively dealt with a variant of this issue of youth engagement, personal self worth, building bridges and security through various programs of which I will only focus on one, the OYES program. In three years, 40,000 unemployed youths were engaged by the leadership of this state between 2011 and 2013, what do you as an intelligent Nigerian think happened to crime rate

in the State of Osun? Of course it went down! These were individuals that were sitting at home frustrated with themselves, their parents, community and of course their government. These were youths that had little or no self worth of themselves now adding value to their community. Waking up in the morning and having a sense of purpose, dignity in contributing to their community and environment but most importantly being taught life skills on independence. Some of the graduates of this scheme have become farmers, business owners etc. The first female ambulance driver in Nigeria is a graduate of this scheme. Is this scheme an end all be all solution to our issues? No, but it is a bridge, a solution in the right direction. My fellow compatriots and lovers of our nation, why would the World Bank recognise this initiative as a solution that addresses youth engagement in developing countries but we in Nigeria cannot see the benefits as leverage! Forget whose innovation it was, forget their political party, let us as a people begin to use what has worked or is working towards the development of our nation, Nigeria, the Giant of Africa. I know I said I will only mention one thing but pardon me I just love my country too much. When will you and I start holding our leaders to account to implement policies that may not be popular but that positively impact and benefit our people? In Tanzania, Julius Nyerere changed the national language from English to Swahili to bring about unity of purpose amongst the several tribes and languages in his country; today the people are stronger as a nation. Nkrumah in Ghana made the ‘Kenteh’ the uniform of the nation, can you imagine the number of jobs that policy created and maintains in their textile industry, what that single policy has

done and continues to do for the Ghanaian economy? In the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbeshola, Mr. Governor introduced a single free uniform for all students in primary and secondary schools. All the uniforms are produced in his state making over 3,000 unemployed people get trained as tailors with a feeder system with new student intakes and replacements yearly. Is it a surprise that the Nigerian Federal Bureau of Statistics named Osun the state with the least unemployment in 2013 with less than 3%. While I’m not a statistician, I was at a forum a few days ago when someone said that Katsina and Kano indigenes at some point in the history of Nigeria formed around 20% of the manufacturing workforce because of the textile industry, which is now docile! Can you imagine what it would mean to unengage youths in the states of Katsina and Kano, even the entire northern Nigeria if the Federal government of Nigeria made ‘Ankara’ the uniform of this nation with all civil servants wearing it with minimal deduction made from their salaries. Cap that with a ban on importation of fabrics into Nigeria, and BOOM! What happens to the economy of northern Nigeria, it explodes with jobs and industry Leadership is not always about being the innovator, it is about leveraging and implementing policies and solutions that have or are working. Leadership is about taking tough decisions, probably rejected by a few but to the benefit of the majority. Nigeria, bring back our girls but most importantly, start the process to avoid a repeat of Chibok.

INTERVIEW

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Adedoyin Shares On The Agricultural Vision Of The State Of Osun Osun.gov.ng team caught up with Hon Wale Adedoyin, the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security in the State Of Osun. It was an opportunity to shed more light on the agric transformation in the state and the vision of Ogbeni Aregbesola to turn around the economy of the state through agriculture. An explicit interview indeed… Below are excerpts from the interview. OSUN.GOV : What is the vision of the present administration concerning agriculture? Hon Adedoyin: The vision of the present Administration is to supply at least 10% of daily #3.5 billion worth of food (i.e. food consumption propensity) in Lagos market. This would be achieved through the evolvement of a progressive, buoyant and productive agricultural sector able to guarantee food security and adequate returns on agricultural investment capable of attracting youths, other individuals and corporate bodies to the sector. The mission is achieving food security, wealth and job creation, youth empowerment, economic transformation and making the State of Osun the hub of agriculture and an emporium of commerce in the South West of Nigeria. OSUN.GOV: How far has this vision been achieved? Hon Adedoyin: The vision had been achieved to a very great extent with the initiation and implementation of Osun Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Programme (O-REAP) under the Aregbesola Administration. The Government has put in place OREAP as an intervention programme to explore the potential of the State to ensure massive food production, boost the state economy, achieve an acceptable level of farm income, reduce income variability, improve competitiveness of the agricultural sector assure safe and high quality produce as well as food security. The notable Agricultural Interventions and laudable achievements follows:1,606 OYES Cadets have been trained in Modern Agriculture at the newly established O-REAP Youth Academy located in the 9 Federal Constituencies while 250 other youths have been trained in agricultural production at Leventis Foundation, Ilesa; also 20 youths including O-YES cadets, O-REAP Youth and the general public have been sponsored to Germany in pursuit of advanced practical training in Agriculture, and twenty others are receiving refresher course in German Language at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and would soon go to Germany. Concerning agric in schools, we are catching them young, in that wise 153 Secondary Schools across the State have been supported in various Agricultural programmes such as Poultry, Piggery and Crop Production. We also have Young Farmers Club also launched in Schools; In the area of storage facilities, we have built 1

(No.) 1000 MT Warehouse, 1 (No.) 500 MT Warehouse, 7 (Nos.) 120 MT Mini Warehouses and 92 (9.2MT) Cribs have been constructed across the State to serve as On/Off Farm Storage Facilities; Our farmers have also been provided with credit facilities, presently 3,645 Farmers across the State benefitted from the sum of N476,350,000 from the Government Guaranteed Agriculture Loan Scheme; 268 Farmers benefitted from the sum of N45,662,065 from OREAP Loan Scheme and we have earmarked N40m as loan to support Piggery Farmers in the State. Land clearing is a challenge to farmers because they do not have the capacity to do that but we intervened, 3,070.3 Ha of Land Cleared; 6,209.4 Ha of land Tractorised across the State. It is useless to plant and not transport the produce to the market, with regards to that, a total of 156 Km of rural roads were constructed including 25 Km road asphalted in Mokore Farm Settlement, 20 Km in Alaguntan at Ago-Owu Farm Settlement), 6 Km road at Esa-Oke Farm Settlement, 39 Km road at Pataara, 58 Km roads at other farms and an 8 Km road under the Quick Impact Intervention Project (QIIP). We have also invested in aquaculture, 3 Fish Farm Estates was established at the 3 Senatorial districts in the State namely Esa-Odo, Iwo & Owalla. A total of 120 Metric Tons of Catfish have been produced in partnership with Kayolad Nigeria Limited, under Osun Fisheries Outgrowers Scheme (OFOPS) which was supported with N36, 800,000 to promote Fish production and train Youths. Similarly, under OFOPS, a sum of N253million was provided under arrangement with Feg-Agro Nig Ltd which is the Scheme Manager, Association of Aquatic Farmers & Agro-processor of Nigeria(AAFAN), State of Osun branch to produce 800 metric tons of catfish as well as processing for value addition. The scheme has supported 400 Fish Farmers. The big one which has impacted on our school feeding programme is the partnership between TUNS Farm Nig Ltd, TUNS is the Scheme Manager under our Broiler promotion programme. We call it Osun Broiler Outgrowers Production Scheme. A sum of N539,435,200 was provided for 578 farms in which over 3,779,400 Day-old Chicks were raised. The farmers have made over N185million as profit in this scheme. We have invested and encouraging

•ADEDOYIN

every aspect of agriculture for the benefit of our people and our economy.We are encouraging piggery production, catfish tilapia breeding, honey breeding, cattle breeding and processing. This medium is not enough to detailed all that we have done. OSUN.GOV: You promise to offer free transportation services by Railway for farmers, what is the status of this programme? Hon Adedoyin: The free transportation services by railway for farmers was initiated and implemented to facilitate transportation of goods and farm produce to and from Lagos free-of-charge. This was intended to eliminate transports cost and invariably translate to more profit for farmers who will not pay for transport. The goal is to make farm produce available at farm prices in Lagos and through that capture 10% of the food market in Lagos. The free freight for food commodities is part of our agricultural programme intended to assist our farmers to market their produce, minimize wastage and improve their earning power. The food hub is yet to be completed to the desired level while the depots are not fully ready for supply of agricultural products to 57 markets in each of the 57 Local Governments in Lagos. The free freight for agricultural commodities is not catching on with the people as much as we would want, as farmers are yet to take full advantage of the free freight because they are still held down by the old method of transportation.The government of the state of Osun is still improving upon the Memorandum of Understanding between her and the Nigerian Railway Corporation. There is no prohibition on how many times goods can be moved. OSUN.GOV: Osun Cattle Hub in

Iwo, what informed the project and how far have you gone in these projects? Hon Adedoyin: The Osun Cattle Hub, otherwise referred to as the Beef Chain Development Project, was initiated by the Aregbesola Administration with the primary objectives of introducing new genetics to improve the carcass and meat quality of local cattle. The programme targets an initial 10% of the Lagos cattle market estimated between 165,000 – 200,000 cattle per year. The programme is expected to fatten and slaughter cattle in Osun for the Lagos market. The facilities we have provided in the hub includes: Construction of three (03) feedlot paddocks, sinking of four(04) boreholes rehabilitation of electricity supply, re-construction of one of the two(02) junior staff quarters and grading and construction of farm road within the complex. OSUN.GOV: The Government is upgrading infrastructure in the Farm Settlements, can you please enlighten us further on this? Hon Adedoyin: The upgrading of infrastructure in the nine (09) Farm Settlements were undertaken to create favourable and conducive environments for farmers in the rural areas so that they have access to their farmlands. The Administration of Ogbeni believes that infrastructures such as good roads, electricity, potable water, etc would not only enhance human living but would also greatly boost socio-economic activities of our people. In collaboration with Rural Access and Mobility Project of the Ministry of Rural and Community Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) Continued on page 13

INTERVIEW

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Adedoyin Shares On The Agricultural Vision Of The State Of Osun Continued from page 12

had completed a 12-kilometer road from Iwo to Pataara, an 18.7 kilometer Mokore Farm Settlement Road in Ayedaade Local Government Area of the State and a 5-kilometer Esa-Oke to Esa-Odo Farm Settlement Road in Obokun Local Government Area as well as a 10.8 –kilometer Idi- iroko to Akinleye road in Iwo Local Government Area of the State. It also supervised the construction of four cell box culverts at River Oba on Idi-iroko and Akinleye roads. To sustain the roads and ensure that the over #2 billion spent on rural roads by the Government do not amount to a waste, maintenance groups were formed to carry out routine maintenance on the roads. This giant stride has given farmers unrestricted access to transport their farm produce from farm to market in urban cities. With the upgrading of infrastructures, the MAFS had touched the lives of rural dwellers positively and repositioned the people at the grassroots for economic vibrancy. The intervention is now paying off as it is aiding government efforts of guaranteeing food security in the State. OSUN.GOV: What is the Government of Osun doing on opening up land and clearing it for farm purposes? Hon Adedoyin: The State Government is opening up land and has been given such farmland to farmers in order to boost food production in the State. In 2011 ,the Government 50 hectares of land at Mokore Farm settlement and allocated the land to OREAP farmers, while in 2012, 100 hectares of land Was cleared at Akinleye, Iwo Farm Settlement and allocated to 20 O-REAP farmers. In 2013, the administration cleared77.8 hectares in Ifon- Orolu, 74.7 hectares in Ila- Orangun, 52.4 hectares in AgoOwu and 48.3 hectares in Iwo. Government also gave support to the settlers on land tractorization in 2011/ 2012 in four farm settlement including Ago- Owu, Esa-Oke, Iwo and Mokore OSUN.GOV: School feeding programme and Agric are interrelated, what is the connection? Hon Adedoyin: The Osun Broilers Out-growers Scheme (O-BOPS) and Osun Fisheries Outgrowers Scheme (OFOPS) are the two agricultural initiatives under O-REAP that are inter-related to the Osun School Feeding Programme (O-MEAL). Both O-BOPS and OFOPS under the Scheme Manager enjoy linkage with O-MEALS which is another laudable initiative of the Aregbesola-led Administration whereby broiler chickens, fresh fish and red cocoyams are bought back by the State Government from the participating farmers to feed primary school children. The MAFS supplies chicken and fish for a balanced meal for almost 250,000 pupils. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is represented at the Steering and monitoring Committee of the Osun School Feeding Programme which facilitates continuous dialogue for the success of the Programme. The scheme is hereby recommended for replication in other states of the Federation on accounts of its tremendous success. OSUN.GOV: From when you took

•ADEDOYIN

over as Honourable Commissioner and till now, how will you rate this administration effort? Hon Adedoyin: The Government efforts have focused on massive food production through land preparation, mass mobilization of existing and new farmers, and introduction of new techniques, improved seedlings and easy access to other important inputs that would make farming extremely profitable and attractive. No doubt the efforts of the State Government have yielded positive results and the government is still very much committed to turning the State into the food basket of the nation. The state Government of Osun had invested much in Agriculture and had committed more time and energy to agriculture which is the primary focus of the present Administration. Though our people would say,” you cannot be a judge in your own case” l, however, in the words of Chinua Achebe “A lizard that jumped from a tall “Iroko Tree” would praise itself even if no one else did”. The present Administration had recorded tremendous success in diverse areas of agriculture including land clearing, provision of improved varieties of seeds and seedlings free- of charge, provision of fertilizer at highly subsidized rates e.t.c. Indeed we have brought back the lost glory of agriculture in the State and efforts of the Aregbesola-led Administration should be rated very high for the sterling achievements in many areas of agriculture. OSUN.GOV: What is the greatest problem agric is facing in the State? Hon Adedoyin: Agriculture in the

State of Osun is confronted by multifarious challenges including Land tenure system, poor storage, transportation, processing facilities that are surmountable. Other major challenge facing Agriculture in the State is rainfed agriculture, the unpredictability of rain and long spell of dry season. The greatest challenge facing Agriculture in the State is that of marketing with occasional market gluts recorded about certain commodity. The marketing challenges were identified on maize, cassava and fish due to bomber harvest occasioned by the O-REAP intervention programme. OSUN.GOV: Osun has been classified as the 7th largest economy. Has Agric played any factor in this? Hon Adedoyin: Yes! Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy in the State of Osun, Nigeria. The sector provides food for the citizens, raw materials for the agro-allied industries and employment for over 70% of our economically active population who are engage (directly or indirectly) in the practice of agriculture. OSUN.GOV: Youths are running away from agric what efforts you are making to encourage and attract them to it. Hon Adedoyin: One of the peculiarities of Agriculture is the gestation periods of agricultural produce takes place over time and space. Youth are not aroused to the fascinations of agriculture because agriculture does not give quick gains compared to the Okada syndrome.In its bid to empower, encourage and attract the youths to Agriculture, The Aregbesola-led Administration had initiated and

implemented many youth friendly programmes including O-REAP Youth Academy, Agriculture – in- Schools programme and the Young Farmers Club. Twenty (20) youths (including OYES cadets, O-REAP Youth and the general public) have been sponsored to Germany in pursuit of advanced practical training in Agriculture, and twenty others are receiving refresher course in German Language at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and would soon go to Germany while 1,606 were trained in modern agricultural practices for massive food production. The youths have been formed into cooperative groups and registered with the Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Industry and Empowerment for self employment.. The Government of the State of Osun had put in place other programmes in the area of agricultural input supply at 50% subsidy as well as fisheries, livestock and veterinary services to mitigate the various challenges associated with agriculture. There are also agricultural mechanization (land clearing and tractorization) services rendered free of charge or at highly subsidized prices to reduce the drudgery of human labour, about which youth are known to have demonstrated a strong aversion. The Youths have been equipped with requisite skills that will enable them to contribute adequately to agricultural production even as they legitimately earn a decent and virtuous living. The involvement of youth in agriculture is another way of tackling the menace of youth unemployment. OSUN.GOV: There is a partnership between Osun and the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; can you brief us about this? Hon Adedoyin: There is a robust collaboration and partnership between the State of Osun and the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany in the area of agriculture especial on training in modern and establishment of soil and food laboratory. The decision to send 40 youths for training in Germany was prompted by the country prowess in the field of agriculture. We believed in tapping from the wealth of experience of a leading economy in Europe (Germany) that does not import but export food products. The 20 youths have been formed into cooperatives and empowered for self employment. OSUN.GOV: What other innovation is the administration making in improving agric practices in the State? Hon Adedoyin: Government cannot do everything. We are strategizing and improving more on Public-Private Partnership in the implementation of projects for efficiency and sustainability. In addition, we are also investing in soil and food Laboratory Analysis, provision of irrigation facilities for all year round farming and agricultural land expansion and land bank. In all, we are in partnership with international research institutes and we will always introduce innovations capable of raising the standard of living of our people and the state in general. OSUN.GOV: Thank you so much sir for taking time out to attend to us Hon Adedoyin: I also say thank you too. It is a pleasure.

OPINION

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Orji Kalu’s Endorsement Of Aregbesola R

EPORTS filtered through a few days ago in all the major newspapers across the country that former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu broke with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to endorse Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of State of Osun for a second term in office. Kalu is a respected political actor who served two terms as Abia governor between 1999 and 2007. His visit to State of Osun coincided with two major political events in the state. First, it was the day his political party, the PDP, conducted primary election for its governorship aspirants in the state: namely, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi a former Minister of Youth Development and Honourable Wole Oke former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Defence. Earlier, Senator Adeleke, the first governor of Osun had withdrawn from the race with a proviso: “I don’t want the blood of my political supporters to be shared because of my governorship ambition.” The Senator alleged that he and his supporters were thoroughly beaten by the thugs of Senator Omisore and those of the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan. “There is a likelihood of a breakdown of law and order if I participate in the primary election. Therefore, I am announcing that I will boycott tomorrow’s primary. Why should I allow somebody possessed by the devil to waste the lives of our people because I want to be a governor? “A minister has continued to threaten that he would waste so many lives in the primary. I am boycotting the primary; I will participate when our party decides to conduct a free, fair and violence-free primary. But I will work for the success of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.” Senator Isiaka Adeleke has a reason to be circumspect for not letting down his guides.

By ERASMUS IKHIDE The PDP candidate in Osun, Omisore has yet to explain satisfactorily to the people of Osun state and Nigerians at large, his alleged involvement in the murder of Chief Bola Ige, then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. If he did, it’s likely that Nigerians are not satisfied with his explanations, even though he has been exonerated by the courts. Kalu may have been disenchanted by the PDP’s inordinate strive for bloodcurdling politics. He sees in Ogbeni a model of civil political buffer and a transformational figure whose commitment to good governance goes beyond merely gloating over a reconstructed kilometre of road by the previous administration. More so, he saw no reason to be wild about an Omisore’s candidacy. The PDP leader, therefore endorsed Governor Aregbesola’s continuation in office, saying: “You don’t change a winning team”. He made the endorsement on Saturday, April 5, at the 15th edition of the Walk-to-Live in Ipetumodu, Osun State. Walk-to-Live is a monthly physical exercise that involves trekking of at least, eight kilometres by interested citizens of the state after which a round of various other physical exercises follow to ensure that the citizens remain physically fit and mentally alert. The programme – in no small dimension – appears the best in closing the gap between the people and the government. Each edition of the programme sees excited citizens who cannot join the usually long and winding procession either staying in front of their houses; climbing topmost parts of their buildings to catch glimpses of the governor, movie actors and actresses and sportsmen who have become regular

features of the event. Young mothers who cannot stay at home strap their babies to their backs. Physicallychallenged persons waddle their ways through the crowd to ensure they complete the ‘race’. Students, market men and women, old and the young want to be part of what they see as an engaging event that help them regain their self-confidence. It is common scene to see excited, ordinary citizens wanting to get handshakes with the governor and other top members of his administration. Under the six-point development agenda of the state administration, which he calls “My Pact with Osun”, promotion of healthy living is one. “There can be no healthy living without constant physical exercises.” Ogbeni is always quick to remind his people each time people troop out to partake in what is appearing the biggest platform for mobilizing the people to action in the state. Apart from other benefits now accruing from the event such as raising the political consciousness of the people, Governor Aregbesola has never failed to remind enthusiasts at the events on monthly basis that “Walk-to-live exercise was introduced because we realised that we have all forgotten the need to physically exercise ourselves. We are highly sedentary and socially wild; we must compliment this with engaging in physical exercise. Osun is promoting Walk-to-Live to ensure that we have a healthy people in a healthy state.” This was what attracted the sport-loving former governor of Abia State to Osun that led to his endorsement of the governor of the state. He would later enthuse: “I am a statesman and PDP man. I made a promise a month ago to honour this Walk to Live event. Omisore is a personal friend of mine. Aregbesola is my friend as well. Governor Aregbesola has worked for the people of Osun. You don’t need to change a winning team. I also wish to express my support for

our President, He is trying. Let’s pray for President Jonathan and let’s pray for Aregbesola.” He would also add: “I want to thank the Governor for making today’s Walk Exercise in a way I have never done before. Governor Aregbesola has done well. I am not here on party basis. II am a bona fide member of my Party (PDP) …When someone has worked, we should learn to recognise performance in Nigeria. Governor Aregbesola has worked. There are few governors that can walk as we have walked today, without pure water being thrown at them. If what I have seen today is a test of popularity, then Aregbesola is indeed popular.” Dr Kalu has engraved his name in gold as one individual who turned his back on inconsistent characters with moral deficits within the same political party to pitch his tent with a progressive candidate who can deliver the goods to the people – just the same way General Colin Powell broke with Republican Party to endorse Barack Obama’s presidency. But when twinned with the partisan blindness in Nigeria political orientation, his endorsement of Aregbesola does reflect a significant shift. Kalu studiously spoke the minds of Osun citizens after several years of inelegant style of governance and outright despondency. It’s obvious that the people have been delivered from the grip of an administration and a political party that has little or no socio-political and economic direction for them. Being permanently welded to acidic politics of bloodletting cannot change the people of Osun’s resolve to remain on the part of change. That is what Orji Kalu’s endorsement of Governor Rauf Aregbesola for continuity in office is about. • Ikhide wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria. Culled from THE NATION

Unravelling The Nigerian Paradox N

O one doubts that Nigeria is a (potentially) wealthy nation. Here is a country that ranks among the top 10 oil producers or exporters in the world and is now the largest economy in Africa. Besides, Nigeria has the largest corps of trained professionals in Africa, some of whom were loaned to other African countries at the dawn of independence. Today, many of these professionals are scattered throughout the world, contributing to growth and innovations in education, health care, business, engineering, and technology, wherever they are. Paradoxically, Nigeria is also among the “extremely poor nations” on earth, when the focus is on the number of citizens living in abject poverty. Nigeria also ranks very low on the Human Development Index, especially in life expectancy and in the quality and distribution of political goods. Moreover, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is among the highest in the world. It is not enough to explain this paradox in terms of the concentration of the nation’s wealth in very few hands, leaving the rest of the population to scamper for the crumbs. Amplifying the paradox is the wide gulf between the nation’s oil wealth and the quality of political goods made available to the citizens by the political class. This gulf is particularly evident in poor infrastructure and inadequate investment in education, health care, and social welfare. The trio of poor leadership, weak institutions, and corruption is often blamed for the existence of this gulf. Some have argued that once corruption is removed, all will be well with Nigeria. But then, strong leadership is needed to reduce or control corruption. The strongest of institutions can be weakened by poor leadership, thus allowing for various loopholes that allow corruption to thrive. Although this is the situation at the federal level, there are a few states that paint a different picture. Against the above backgrounds, I was curious about the maiden edition of the Business World’s Most Innovative Governor Award, which celebrates innovative approaches to governance and development. The ceremony held at the expansive Zanabab Hotel and Resort in Ilesa on Saturday, May 3, 2014. After a survey of first-term governors across the country, 12 were shortlisted for the award, two from each geopolitical zone. A team of experts was despatched to each state to document and assess major innovations in governance as well as the nature and extent of development. After all the data were assessed, analysed, and compared, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State emerged as the overall winner. After verifying the innovative programmes identified in the award citation and brochures, I decided to share the

By NIYI AKINNASO award experience for at least two reasons. First, in performing the traditional functions of the Fourth Estate, the press must be careful not to be seen only as a one-eyed critic, who sees nothing beyond the government’s shortcomings. The other eye must be opened to see good models that are driven by innovations. Indeed, if the goal of critical commentaries is to provide the basis for desirable social change, then good models, typified by innovative programmes, deserve our attention. I made the same argument when I wrote about Dr. Olusegun Mimiko’s innovative health, education, and community development programmes in Ondo State during his first term. Second, there has been so much negative press about Aregbesola, due partly to his initial over-enthusiastic approach to governance and partly to his outspokenness on the issues he cares about. As a result, his achievements have been overlooked, misrepresented or completely distorted. One such achievement is his wide-ranging education reform, which is beyond school mergers and reclassification of grade levels into Elementary, Middle, and High Schools as reported in the media. It also involves the provision of lunch for Elementary grades, textbooks for Elementary and Middle grades, Opon Imo (Tablets of Knowledge) for High School grades, and uniforms for all grades and for the food vendors in all Osun schools. These innovations are complemented by a massive construction of distinctive mega schools. On completion, 100 Elementary, 50 Middle, and 20 High Schools would have been built. Furthermore, the teachers’ morale is boosted by capacity building programmes, rewards for excellence, and transparent promotion exercises. Appropriate security and quality assurance measures were also set up for all schools throughout the state. A unique feature of the state government’s education reform is how well it dovetails into the provision of employment for contractors, building materials suppliers, daily wage labourers, food vendors, farmers, tailors, and youths. For example, the garment factory established for the production of uniforms, the food vending project, and the empowerment of farmers and youths for food production to feed the schoolchildren have generated nearly 10,000 employment opportunities across the state. Furthermore, Aregbesola’s innovative approach to employment led to the establishment of a popular youth employment scheme, which recruits at least 20,000 youths, who are deployed to various jobs for a period of three months, at the end of which some are permanently recruited by the state and a new batch comes on board. The youth employment scheme is complemented by a social security programme for vulnerable adults throughout the state, who are paid a monthly allowance

and provided with free medical care. Realising that farming provides employment for many Osun residents, Aregbesola embarked on a massive, but highly integrated, road construction and rehabilitation projects across the state, including boundary highways; township roads; inter-city roads; rural roads; and a 17-kilometre, dualised, ring road around Osogbo. Where necessary, untarred roads are opened up by direct labour to provide access to remote farms. Furthermore, to facilitate the movement of goods to Lagos, which has the largest concentration of consumers of Osun goods, a new road project was embarked upon, linking Osun with Ogun State along the Gbogan-Odeomu-Ijebu Igbo axis. The railway station in Osogbo is undergoing massive restructuring not only for the movement of farm produce but also for the movement of passengers, especially during festive occasions when the state provides free rail transport. According to Muyiwa Ige, the state Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development, the station is being developed in terms of the Chicago Michigan Avenue concept of the Magnificent Mile, connecting the station with Osun River, the Old Garage, and Omiseke. The transport network is capped by an airport, whose 3.2-kilometre runway and Tower are under construction. Because many of the innovative projects are visible throughout the state (see Business World, Vol.8, No 22, May 5-12, 2014 for details), let me highlight an invisible one that really drives the wheel of efficiency and transparency in project execution throughout the state. It is the Bureau of Social Services, the first of its kind in the country, established by Aregbesola and headed by Femi Ifaturoti, an engineer and Project Assessment Manager. BOSS is staffed with administrators, engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, and IT specialists. According to Ifaturoti, “The mission of BOSS is to leverage human resources and technological innovation in driving effective monitoring and evaluation of social service delivery, thereby ensuring public value and fiscal discipline”. BOSS functions as a conduit between the governor and the commissioners, by monitoring and evaluating all state projects and ensures that comparative data on all projects are collected, analysed, tabled, and archived, thus facilitating quick checks of project status and comparisons across similar projects. The monthly evaluation meeting between BOSS and state commissioners keeps commissioners on their toes, while leaving the governor free to pursue other ways of improving citizens’ life chances. Aregbesola’s innovative projects have attracted partnerships from local and international organisations, because they are functional and cost-effective. And BOSS drives them to successful implementation. That’s why he has been able to achieve so much in so little time. This has helped unravel the Nigerian paradox. •Culled from THE PUNCH

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

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THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014 ers, tailors, and youths. For example, the garment factory established for the production of uniforms, the food vending project, and the empowerment of farmers and youths for food production to feed the schoolchildren have generated nearly 10,000 employment opportunities across the state.

No one doubts that Nigeria is a (potentially) wealthy nation. Here is a country that ranks among the top 10 oil producers or exporters in the world and is now the largest economy in Africa. Besides, Nigeria has the largest corps of trained professionals in Africa, some of whom were loaned to other African countries at the dawn of independence. Today, many of these professionals are scattered throughout the world, contributing to growth and innovations in education, health care, business, engineering, and technology, wherever they are. Paradoxically, Nigeria is also among the “extremely poor nations” on earth, when the focus is on the number of citizens living in abject poverty. Nigeria also ranks very low on the Human Development Index, especially in life expectancy and in the quality and distribution of political goods. Moreover, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is among the highest in the world. It is not enough to explain this paradox in terms of the concentration of the nation’s wealth in very few hands, leaving the rest of the population to scamper for the crumbs.

Unravelling The Nigerian Paradox

Realising that farming provides employment for many Osun residents, Aregbesola embarked on a massive, but highly integrated, road construction and rehabilitation projects across the state, including boundary highways; township roads; inter-city roads; rural roads; and a 17kilometre, dualised, ring road around Osogbo. Where necessary, untarred roads are opened up by direct labour to provide access to remote farms.

Amplifying the paradox is the wide gulf between the nation’s oil wealth and the quality of political goods made available to the citizens by the political class. This gulf is particularly evident in poor infrastructure and inadequate investment in education, health care, and social welfare.

Furthermore, to facilitate the movement of goods to Lagos, which has the largest concentration of consumers of Osun goods, a new road project was embarked upon, linking Osun with Ogun State along the Gbogan-Odeomu-Ijebu Igbo axis. The railway station in Osogbo is undergoing massive restructuring not only for the movement of farm produce but also for the movement of passengers, especially during festive occasions when the state provides free rail transport.

The trio of poor leadership, weak institutions, and corruption is often blamed for the existence of this gulf. Some have argued that once corruption is removed, all will be well with Nigeria. But then, strong leadership is needed to reduce or control corruption. The strongest of institutions can be weakened by poor leadership, thus allowing for various loopholes that allow corruption to thrive. Although this is the situation at the federal level, there are a few states that paint a different picture. Against the above backgrounds, I was curious about the maiden edition of the Business World’s Most Innovative Governor Award, which celebrates innovative approaches to governance and development. The ceremony held at the expansive Zanabab Hotel and Resort in Ilesa on Saturday, May 3, 2014. After a survey of first-term governors across the country, 12 were shortlisted for the award, two from each geopolitical zone. A team of experts was despatched to each state to document and assess major innovations in governance as well as the nature and extent of development. After all the data were assessed, analysed, and compared, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State emerged as the overall winner. After verifying the innovative programmes identified in the award citation and brochures, I decided to share the award experience for at least two reasons. First, in performing the traditional functions of the Fourth Estate, the press must be careful not to be seen only as a one-eyed critic, who sees nothing beyond the government’s shortcomings. The other eye must be opened to see good models that are driven by innovations. Indeed, if the goal of critical commentaries is to provide the basis for desirable social change, then good models, typified by innovative programmes, deserve our attention. I made the same argument when I wrote about Dr. Olusegun Mimiko’s innovative health, education, and community development programmes in Ondo State during his first term.

Furthermore, Aregbesola’s innovative approach to employment led to the establishment of a popular youth employment scheme, which recruits at least 20,000 youths, who are deployed to various jobs for a period of three months, at the end of which some are permanently recruited by the state and a new batch comes on board. The youth employment scheme is complemented by a social security programme for vulnerable adults throughout the state, who are paid a monthly allowance and provided with free medical care.

According to Muyiwa Ige, the state Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development, the station is being developed in terms of the Chicago Michigan Avenue concept of the Magnificent Mile, connecting the station with Osun River, the Old Garage, and Omiseke. The transport network is capped by an airport, whose 3.2-kilometre runway and Tower are under construction. Aregbesola

Second, there has been so much negative press about Aregbesola, due partly to his initial over-enthusiastic approach to governance and partly to his outspokenness on the issues he cares about. As a result, his achievements have been overlooked, misrepresented or completely distorted. One such achievement is his wide-ranging education reform, which is beyond school mergers and reclassification of grade levels into Elementary, Middle, and High Schools as reported in the media. It also involves the provision of lunch for Elementary grades, textbooks for Elementary and Middle grades, Opon Imo(Tablets of Knowledge) for High School grades, and uniforms for all grades and for the food vendors in all Osun schools. These innovations are complemented by a massive construction of distinctive mega schools. On completion, 100 Elementary, 50 Middle, and 20 High Schools would have been built. Furthermore, the teachers’ morale is boosted by capacity building programmes, rewards for excellence, and transparent promotion exercises. Appropriate security and quality assurance measures were also set up for all schools throughout the state. A unique feature of the state government’s education reform is how well it dovetails into the provision of employment for contractors, building materials suppliers, daily wage labourers, food vendors, farm

Because many of the innovative projects are visible throughout the state (see Business World, Vol.8, No 22, May 5-12, 2014 for details), let me highlight an invisible one that really drives the wheel of efficiency and transparency in project execution throughout the state. It is the Bureau of Social Services, the first of its kind in the country, established by Aregbesola and headed by Femi Ifaturoti, an engineer and Project Assessment Manager. BOSS is staffed with administrators, engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, and IT specialists. According to Ifaturoti, “The mission of BOSS is to leverage human resources and technological innovation in driving effective monitoring and evaluation of social service delivery, thereby ensuring public value and fiscal discipline”. BOSS functions as a conduit between the governor and the commissioners, by monitoring and evaluating all state projects and ensures that comparative data on all projects are collected, analysed, tabled, and archived, thus facilitating quick checks of project status and comparisons across similar projects. The monthly evaluation meeting between BOSS and state commissioners keeps commissioners on their toes, while leaving the governor free to pursue other ways of improving citizens’ life chances. Aregbesola’s innovative projects have attracted partnerships from local and international organisations, because they are functional and costeffective. And BOSS drives them to successful implementation. That’s why he has been able to achieve so much in so little time. This has helped unravel the Nigerian paradox.

OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondence to the Managing Editor, KOLA OLABISI, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KAYODE AGBAJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail: osundefender@yahoo.com, kayodeagbaje@yahoo.com. ISSN: 0794-8050.Website: www.osundefender.org.